Internet celebrates its 30th birthday

London: Internet, the revolutionary communications system used daily by billions of users, celebrated its 30th birthday on January 1.

The computer network had officially begun its technological revolution when it fully substituted previous networking systems on January 1, 1983.

According to the Telegraph, known as 'flag day', it was the first time the US Department of Defence (DoD)-commissioned Arpanet network fully switched to use of the Internet protocol suite (IPS) communications system.

Using data 'packet-switching', the new method of linking computers paved the way for the arrival of the World Wide Web.

Chris Edwards, an electronics correspondent for Engineering and Technology magazine, commenting on the historic event's impact on the world, said that the Internet means there is nowhere and no one in the world that one can't reach easily and cheaply.

Based on designs by Welsh scientist Donald Davies, the Arpanet network began as a military project in the late 1960s.

It was developed at prestigious American universities and research laboratories, such as the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Stanford Research Institute, the report said.

Starting in 1973, work on the powerful and flexible IPS and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) technology, which would change mass communications, got under way, it added.

According to the report, the new systems were designed to replace the more vulnerable Network Control Program (NCP) used previously, making sure the network was not exposed to a single point of failure.

This meant a single attack could not bring it down, making it safer and more reliable.

By January 1 1983, the substitution of the older system for the new Internet protocol had been completed and the Internet was born, the report added.